1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tool system used for working on inaccessible places such as multiple-story-building windows and the like. More particularly, it is concerned with a tool system having an adapter receiving a tool which is axially fixed but axially rotatable relative to the adapter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The need to reach elevated inaccessible places such as upper story windows, movie theater marquees and the like has resulted in specialized tools for such purposes. In particular, devices have been developed in which there is an assembly of one or more pole elements coupled with a tool used for working on the job surface. None of these devices, however, has provided a mechanism for rotational movement of the tool with respect to the pole and hence reduce the amount of body repositioning required of the user. For example, when a window washer is suspended above ground in the course of washing windows, convenience, not to mention safety, dictates that rotational adjustment of the tool relative to the washer's body would be logistically preferable to awkard bodily compensation for the various angles required to wash a large surface. Particularly inconvenient is the situation where the washer desires to make a vertical cleaning stroke from above his head to below his feet. In the course of such a stroke, with the prior devices, it was necessary for the washer to break contact between the tool and the working surface in order to reorient the tool system so as to complete the lower portion of the stroke. Other limitations of such nonrotatable tools will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.
What is needed is a device which includes a tool rotatably mounted so as to substitute device movement for bodily movement and thus allow the user to work in a more effective manner. A number of devices for working on inaccessible surfaces has been proposed in the past. One such device is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,140.